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Somewhere between a One and a Five
Manuel Vazquez Montalbano was an sometimes and author in search of a book. This novel is one of those searches, but I'm not sure if he found what he was looking for.In the summaries and synopsis you read about his ability to turn nothing into something, but here he seems to just wander around old Barcelona as it 'primps' itself getting ready for the 1992 Olympics.

This is a very existentialist, absurdist (where's Edward Albee when you need him) metaphysical journey of a man whose life is becoming redundant, even to him.Carvalho spends way to much time trying to live in his past and finds that much of what he remembers is now changed to fit what he wants to remember as opposed to what actually happened.There is a touch of the Alain Robbe-Grillet, 'nouveau roman' to the whole book that goes along well with the allusions from Barrie' 'Peter Pan'.

This seems to me to be the 'swan song' for Carvalho as the 'devil may care' communist/collaborator/detective, and the maturing of his personality to fit the changes in Spain with the passing of Franco and its' entry into the European Community.Depending on how you read it, it's either a very good book, or just a jumble of attitudes, happenings and words.Your call.

An unorthodox mystery
"An Olympic Death" is an unorthodox mystery novel set in Barcelona on the eve of the '92 Olympics.As a portrait of Barcelona, the novel reveals it for what it is -- at once one of the most exciting cities in Europe and a postmodernist pigsty.A hilarious satire on contemporary art, aging hippies, preparations for the Olympics. philosophy, books, gay bars, and even mystery novels themselves, "An Olympic Death" is Manuel Vázquez Montalbán at his best.

The novel's opening scene could have been taken straight from a Peter Sellers movie.Claire Delmas, a eye-boggling French beauty, and her friend the Olympic agent Georges Lebrun, pay a visit to Pepe Carvalho, Barcelona's aging private-eye, gastronome extraordinaire, and repentent Communist.Carvalho (pronounced "car-valyu") is truly an unorthodox figure among private-eyes.Immediately, it is evident that he is much more of a psychiatrist than a private-eye, braving the dangers of his clients' conversation instead of the world of crime.Claire and Lebrun are looking for Alekos, Claire's renegade Greek husband turned homosexual.Their search for him -- chaperoned by Carvalho -- leads them through a motley of comic scenes in Barcelona.

Perhaps uniquely among detective novels, Carvalho is simultaneously at work on a curious, entirely unrelated second "case".Luis Brando, a wealthy publisher (no relation to Marlon), engages him to keep an eye on Beba, his nymphomaniac teenage daughter.Beba is a lusty lass with a penchant for screwing old men.Carried out alongside the search for Alekos, Beba's case leads Carvalho through a riotous labyrinth of crazy characters and a hilarious tour of Barcelona by night.

While I enjoyed the novel immensely and I understand it's largely a satire on "cultural hooliganism" (Carvalho's phrase), I have to admit that there are some trashy scenes.Montalbán could have excluded them and not damaged his story.I'm not a prude, but from time to time he overkilled the sex and profanity.So much so that to be frank, I was ready for the novel to end.

Nevertheless, the book was a fantastic read and I'm eager to find more Montalbán.5 stars. ... Read more

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Misleading Assignment
An entry in a popular series about Pepe Carvalho, an unusual character who is a private investigator and a gourmet based in Barcelona, this novel was published many years ago in Europe and more recently translated with grace a couple of years ago.The publisher is to be congratulated in reprinting and releasing "Tattoo" and another, "The Man of My Life" (review to follow shortly), in February, among others in this series.Pepe is a charming rascal, with an intriguing background, having had an apparently successful career before he walked away from the CIA to undertake his more or less relaxed profession in his native Spain.

Pepe is retained for a hefty sum by the husband of a local hairdresser to identify a body pulled out of the sea with a face so badly destroyed that the only identification is a tattoo on the back reading "Born to Raise Hell in Hell."Barcelona police attribute the death to local prostitutes and drug dealers and sweep up these elements off the street.Pepe's investigation leads him to Amsterdam, where the victim worked briefly and apparently was involved with a drug gang.But the mystery is not so simple.

The descriptions of Amsterdam,Pepe's appetite for good food, and observations about Barcelona are all interesting, as is Pepe's sex life and relations with Charo, his long-time love[who happens to be a full-time prostitute with a high-class clientele], among others.

Sadly, Montalban died in October of 2003, but we are fortunate that he left such worthy works behind.

Recommended

entertaining Spanish private investigative Noir
Former Barcelona cop, Pepe Carvalho earns a living as a private investigator.However sleuthing is not on the short list of what he loves.Instead his first, second, third and nth love is women especially gourmet dining with beautiful females.He also enjoys on a summer night to use his fireplace burning a book a night especially if a woman joins him.

Two people swimming off a public beach find a badly devoured corpse as the fish dined on the victim's face.On his back is a tattoo "Born to Raise Hell in Hell".After having a tryst interrupted, Senor Ramon Freixas, husband of Senora Queter the hairdresser salon owner, hires Carvalho to find out who the deceased is though he refuses to explain his interest in the corpse.The sleuth starts with neighborhood tattoo shops that lead Carvalho to Amsterdam where he is persona non grata by law enforcement officials and drug gangs.

This is an entertaining Spanish private investigative Noir starring a wonderful cynic who classifies people as: those in jail; those who should be in jail, beautiful women who cherish his mind and body; and gourmet chefs.Fans will enjoy the whodunit that takes a deep look at the underbelly of European society while marveling at an age when chauvinists were acceptable and a person could fly through airport security carrying weapons.

Harriet Klausner

An exciting and very highly recommended read
An unsavory tattoo can lead to an unsavory underworld. "Tattoo" is a Pepe Carvalho mystery, following the lead character as he's charged with identifying a dead man whose faced was destroyed. Going on only an unusual tattoo, Pepe finds that in order to find the truth and close the case, he'll have to go deep into Amsterdam's criminal underworld. "Tattoo" is an exciting and very highly recommended read. ... Read more

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Pepe, Pepe, Pepe . . . .
This is a book, I'd say, about a man of a certain age, who's done all his living, is tired, and asks himself all too frequently, why am I still hanging on.The plot is not as important as the honesty of the author's feelings and the artistry of the writing.

The honesty is that of an author expressing to you his likes and his dislikes, his disgust and his love, as they actually are.If you don't like them, you won't like this book either.The artistry of the writing is an unobtrusive blending of styles that shows that the author is a lover of books after all, despite whatever currently happens to be burning in Pepe Carvalho's fireplace: satirical portraits (the Marquess), sensitive portrayals (Yes, Biscuter), extremely trashy descriptions of sex (Pepe's), an outstanding description of a hangover ("Never again . . . ."), lots of hard-boiled detective talk, stream of consciousness a la Joyce, and, every so often, similes worthy of Vergil.And the food.Always the food.

By the end of the story we see that the world-weary tough guy has come to the rescue of quite a few damsels in distress and may be just a big softie after all. Maybe that's the secret of his appeal to women.But one could well ask how it is possible for an old guy to enjoy the company of so many different women and still be so down all the time.Well, it's his story, not yours.If you don't like the book, you know what you can do with it.

Good Story, But...
Pepe Carvalho is one of the most complex characters that you will find in any collection of stories.He most famous for his epicurean, gastronomic and detective skills; but he is politically unfaithful and socially strange.He has a relationship with a 'call-girl' for eight years and seems to revel in having sex with woman in their late teens and early twenties (he's over forty and over weight).His personality, which is nothing to write home about, seems to be an aphrodisiac to young spanish woman experiencing a new 'freedom' in Spain following Franco's death.

From reading Vazquez Montalban (VM) you would think that in the 1980s all anyone in Spain talked about was politics of the Left, and that the Right had given up having any control with Franco dead.But people talk politics like they live in Revolutionary France and expect that the Reds will be taking over any day.

From the point of view of the twenty-first century, and a Spain that is now part of the upper elite of the European Union, the books have not worn well sociologically.The characters, both rich and poor, seem to have all the depth of a graphic novel but none of the adventure.VM is able to make his points about the changes to post-Franco in an almost naive way, knowing what we know now.I guess that politics never wear well.But the stories themselves are involving.

Great, satirical detective story of post Franco Barcelona
Highly recommended hard-boiled detective novel that looks at the cultural malaise of Spain in general and Barcelona in particular coming out of thirty years of Fascist dictatorship.Every character in this book has a serious political past and agenda, and they recite their political evolution and handily give the details of which party they recently voted for and why in the same fashion that Law & Order interviewees cynically give the details of their professional pitfalls.The hero Pepe Carvalho is so wacked out he burns books (but why is the question,) and he seems to be an overweight balding alcoholic with gourmand tendencies, but he's still a hit with the ladies.And the story is excellently written, and at once amusing and sad.

PEPE CARVALHO'S FINEST
Once again Montalban hypnotizes us with his great story-telling ability, his poetry, his stunning metaphores and unforgettable characters. Detective literature never aimed this high. Winner of many prestigious awardsincluding "The Raymond Chandler Award", Southern Seas introducesus to the figure of Pepe Carvalho, detective, gourmet, wine-expert,philosopher, lover, former member of the Communist Party and the CIA.Thesetting is Barcelona, Spain, in the post-Franco era. Images of rare beautyand impressive power alternate in this atypical "who done it?"story. Montalban succeeds in elevating the genre to a higher level and,perhaps, creates a genre on its own. More Montalban, please! ... Read more

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Complications
Having just read and reviewed Mr. Montalban's "Tattoo," this reviewer found that this novel marks a deep contrast both in the writing and in the portrayal of Pepe Carvalho, the Barcelona private eye.In the former book, he is pictured as a light-hearted, irreverent lover and gourmet, and the tone of the writing is equally sprightly.In this installment, the writing is deep and somber, as befits the subject, and Pepe's approach to his two loves is anything but light.Only his taste for food remains the same.

Pepe is retained by a rich widow to find the identity of the murderer of her son.To accomplish this task, Pepe becomes involved in infiltrating all kinds of conspiracies: a murderous scandal, murky politics and the world of Satanism and religious sects.

At the same time, Pepe enters involved in a mid-life crisis, torn between two women who both claim he is the only man of their lives. It all becomes very heavy, with long tracts on Spanish (and other nations') nationalistic efforts, and abstract religious discussions The various aspects come together to threaten Pepe's life.The novel demonstrates the depth and ability of the author, who died in October, 2003.

A Great Read
The gourmet detective continues his exploration of modern life in the Catalan capitol Barcelona. A good read and lots of fun

intriguing Spanish investigator tale
Having spent some time in Buenos Aires (see THE BUENOS AIRES QUINTET), investigator Pepe Carvalho has returned home to Barcelona.However, he has no time to adjust to the time zone change as he has women to dine and a murder investigation to conduct.Someone killed Lazaro Conasal, son of an influential financier.Lazaro's mother informs Pepe that her late son and she agreed that Hannibal with his muzzle in the Silence of the Lambs is her husband and his father.

The case takes a strange spin into the growing Satanist cults as Catholicism has increasingly become disfavored with the exposures of wrongdoing, especially depravity, by the Church during the Franco Era.He also finds ties to anarchists who want Catalonia to separate from Spain.With pressure to resolve the case preferably with a lowlife discard of no regard, Pepe ignores the noise and in between dining with a multitude of women, he continues his inquiry.

This Spanish investigator tale is not an easy read as the social elements of separatism and religion as well as the lampooning of the aging lothario cop at times overwhelms the sleuthing.Pepe is a refreshing tour guide of where to dine in Barcelona and must have one heck of a supply of Viagra.The profound look at the failures of Catholicism in Spain is gripping and when combined with the anarchism subplot together they supersede the whodunit.Still fans who prefer something different will want to read Pepe Carvalho's return home.

Harriet Klausner

Gastronomic Crime Fiction in Barcelona
This book is set in Barcelona, where the detective Pepe Carvalho plies his trade, freshly back from a stint in Buenos Aires. The book is more a rumination on the politics of Region Plus and Catalan nationalism and various groups for and against the -isms that plague Spain (including, of course, Catholicism and Satanism), than a detective novel. Much energy is expended in describing why an economic union of Barcelona, Toulouse and Milan is inimical to the idea of Catalonia (if people can make money in the new regime, why will they bother to agitate for separation from Spain?), and why devil-worship is the new religion to counter Catholicism (which has been tarnished by its association with the depredations of Franco's era). Indeed, Carvalho does little detecting, although by what looks like authorial fiat, he locates one crazy group of anarchists and another, and deduces links among them that perplexed an unsubtle mind like mine. In the midst of all this, he also gorges himself on some of Barcelona's famed cuisine and on Barcelona's lovely women as well. How a somewhat weary and downbeat sixty-year old gets all those women, I have no idea. Still, they like him, and he proceeds to confound the various politicos with his smart-alecky humour, before settling the case with his own idea of justice. ... Read more

Product Description
Ademas de ser el primer libro publicado por Manuel Vazquez Montalban, Informe sobre la informacion (1963) se ha mantenido, durante decadas, como un referente imprescindible para las sucesivas generaciones de periodistas. Documento apasionado que senala las concentraciones de poder de los grupos de opinion mundiales, esta obra fue escrita en unas condiciones extremas, mientras su autor cumplia condena en la carcel provincial de Lerida. Con ella Vazquez Montalban no solo inauguro en Espana un genero en las ciencias sociales, sino que tambien dejo para el futuro un testimonio privilegiado de las encarnizadas disputas por controlar el mercado de las telecomunicaciones. A pesar de las transformaciones politicas y economicas sufridas en los ultimos cuarenta anos, este libro sigue siendo, aun hoy, una radiografia exacta de las estrategias empleadas por las grandes oligarquias de la informacion internacional. ... Read more

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Difficult to read.
We chose this book for our book club selection in August. The reaction was unusual for us in that quite a few people gave up reading without finishing. There were general complaints that the book was overly complicated, difficult to read, and that you needed an encyclopedia to follow all the historical references.

I personally had the impression that reading the book was like having a mystery genre dream. You know that it is a mystery because there is a corpse and detective. But, on the other hand, it never becomes clear who the bad guys actually are. People come and go with odd items (musical instruments, for instance) and nobody really seems very interested in solving the mystery itself.

I also had the feeling that I was missing quite a bit because the point of the book seems to be as much investigating the state of post-Franco Communist politics as it is a genre read. This is notbad, but since my knowledge is rather limited in that area, a great deal of the book went winging over my head. I am curious as to whether someone more familiar with the ins and outs of Spanish politics would have found it a more engaging reading experience.

Part of what made the book so difficult to read was very likely the translation. I do not know if it was intended to faithfully capture the original in this sense, but it seemed as though Patrick Camiller went out of his way to find the most obscure words possible for use in the edition. The book was also sadly full of typing and editorial errors that should have been caught before publication.

There were enough moments in Murder in the Central Committee for me to get a feeling why Montalban has such an excellent reputation as a writer. I particularly admired the way that he drew characters. I liked Pepe and his quirks, and got more than a few chuckles out of his food obsessions and his habit of burning books instead of logs. I will probably give another one of his books a try to see if I am able to get more out of it as a reader.

A Rambling Bore
I love reading detective and crime fiction from other countries, however I have to confess this particular book (the first of Montalban's I've read) left me rather disappointed. The story opens promisingly enough, with the stabbing of a head of the Spanish Communist Party central committee when the lights suddenly go out at a meeting in Madrid. Barcelona-based private eye Pepe Carvalho is hired by the party to identify the murderer, whom it is immediately apparent must be another central committee member.

Pepe is an agreeable enough detective, sort of a hard-boiled type who likes to provoke people (an orphan with no relations, he is responsible for no one but himself) and also happens to be a food lover, former communist, and former CIA employee. The book's major flaw is that Montalban gets sidetracked from the crime and delivers lengthy and excruciatingly boring details of Spanish communist party history and insider intrigues. Part of the problem lies in the book's age-originally written in 1981, only a few years after the communist party was legalized in Spain-much of this detail might have been more interesting twenty years ago. But I also think that unless one has some overwhelming interest in Spanish politics, this detail both incomprehensible and boring.

That's not the only flaw though, another problem is a more basic detecting one. I give nothing away in saying that the murder was planned to occur when all the lights went out, and yet Pepe does nothing to investigate how that might have been coordinated. The solution is given as if the murderer acted alone, however it clearly could not have been the case! In any event, I certainly wasn't inspired to rush out and read more of Pepe's adventures.

Different but dull
As a fan of detective fiction, I am often amused by the sub-genres that develop; gourmet cooks, fly fishermen, lesbians, you name it.So as a student of Spanish and a lover of Spain, I was pleased to discover a modern Spanish private detective.Pepe Carvalho is a hard-boiled loner, a gourmet cook, a former communist and a former CIA spy.He lives in Barcelona.He has many sexual adventures.So far, so good.Unfortunately, there is very little detection in this book.A crime occurs. Carvalho wanders around getting hit on the head.He meets two beautiful women.A past conflict with a police inspector is hinted at.The criminal is revealed in an unconvincing way.Carvalho goes home.I kept waiting for some sluething, but it never happened.The best part of this book was some very slight references to modern Spanish society and some probably accurate references to the history of the Spanish Communist Party.The author is a prize winner, highly regarded and very successful.I'll try him again, but this is not an exciting detective story.

great fun!
The book is so engaging one reads it almost breathlessly.The historical context and the diversity of characters makes it lots of fun.I disagree with the previous reviewer that Montalban's discussion of our hero's culinary knowledge and talents detracts from the book -- on the contrary, all discussions of food and wine are fascinating and delicious. Warning: do not read on a empty stomach!

Highly intelligent and realistically hardboiled
I was surprised how uncompromising Montalban was about taking us through party politics in post-Franco Spain -- which turned out to be much more interesting than I might have anticipated.There is enough violence tokeep one concerned, several fleshed-out characters, a sense of realitythroughout.If I have a quibble it's that the reader is subjected torather too much about what a gourmet the hero-detective is.Otherwise, itwas smartly done and I'll read Montalban again. ... Read more

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Quinteto de Buenos Aires
It is a brave attempt by recently deceased Spanish writer Vasquez Montalban to depict the post-dictatorship scene in Buenos Aires. The country was economically ruined, and despite cosmetic democracy, the hard liners still very much in charge. His detective Pepe Carvalho makes a circuitous attempt to make contact with a former revolutionary, now underground to persuade him to return to Spain, his adoptive country. Montalban description of Buenos Aires is almost cinematographic. He captures the flavor of Buenos Aires like no other non-Argentine writer could. The narrative is however rather repetitive and at times painfully slow, punctuated by moments of gruesome violence. Montalban, one of the late 20th century best mystery writers, could have done some serious editing on this particular work to improve readability. For those readers familiar with the Buenos Aires of the 80's, the book will no doubt bring back twinges of nostalgia. ... Read more

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Barcelona, the exuberant capital of Catalonia and host of the 1992 Olympics, is here explored and exposed by its greatest contemporary author. Manuel Vazquez Montalban's anecdotal history takes us on an imaginary tour of the city, from its most secret corners to its most famous monuments. An erudite and impassioned guide, Montalban finds a controversy in every building, a story in every street, illuminating the city's rich history and turbulent politics, its art, gastronomy and football. There are many Barcelonas, and Montalban knows them all: the lavish art-nouveau houses in Vallvidrera where he himself lives; the labyrinthine squalor of the Barri Xino, setting for Genet's Thief's Journal; the Barri Gotic where the independent Catalan Kingdom between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries created a nationalist consciousness which has endured for half a millennium; the oneiric Parc Guell, designed by the city's most celebrated architect, Antoni Gaudi. But this definitive survey is one unlikely to be endorsed by the Oficina de Turismo.For Montalban is fiercely critical of the values of the new 'Olympic' Barcelona: the misery of the inner-city slums where one person dies every second day from a heroin overdose; the speculation which has compounded overcrowding in a metropolis with the highest population density in Europe; the ravaging of working-class suburbs to make way for an aseptic international centre. Once Europe's most utopian city, Barcelona, he argues, 'has become a market, and everything is up for sale'. For visitors, Barcelonas will prove a stimulating, indispensable companion. And for everyone interested in art and architecture, politics and sport, it will provide an enthralling introduction to the great European city. ... Read more

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In the 1980s, an American Ph.D. candidate uncovers new facts about the 1956 kidnapping, torture, and murder of Jesus de Gali+a7ndez, a Basque refugee and critic of the Domincan Republic's Trujillo regime. ... Read more

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Pepe Carvalho, investigador privado, recibe de una extrana pareja francesa, Claire y Lebrun, el encargo de hallar el paradero de Alekos, el marido griego de Claire. Mientras recorren los antiguos barrios industriales de la Barcelona preolimpica en busca del oscuro personaje, el corazon de Carvalho sucumbira ante la belleza inalcanzable de Claire. ... Read more

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Una reunion rutinaria del Comite Central del Partido Comunista de Espana. Se apagan las luces. Aparece asesinado el secretario general, Fernando Garrido. ... Read more